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By placing human need at their centre, rather than profit,co-operatives overcome short-termism and introduce real choice in how business is done. Quite simply, co-operatives are builders of sustainability.

Kit Carson Electric CooperativeNew Mexico, USA

Co-operatives: builders of sustainability

Co-operatives have always endeavoured to enable people to have access to goods and services without exploitation – to realise their needs and aspirations. This has led co-operatives to pursue a convergence between economic, social, and environmental interests – building triple bottom line sustainability.

Co-operative sustainability in action

The Alliance is pursuing a variety of initiatives which facilitate the achievement of the Blueprint goals:

The thought leadership paper on 'Co-operative Growth for the 21st Century' aims to respond to the need to measure growth in a sustainable way. The paper explores a co-operative perspective on the growth vs. de-growth debate and makes concrete recommendations on how co-operatives might better capture their full impact.

The Sustainability Advisory Group is guiding the Alliance in the assessment and potential development of concrete tools and measurements building on the results and recommendations of the Scan and Growth paper. The members are:

The Alliance is playing a crucial role in informing how the United Nations Post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda will achieve its Goals. In close partnership with its members, UN agencies, and other like-minded actors, the Alliance is advancingco-operatives as a ‘means of implementation’ – an ideal tool and vehicle – by which to secure the achievement of sustainable development.

Stay tuned! We are exploring ways by which the Alliance can strengthen its role in facilitating cooperative-to-cooperative trade.

Other initiatives on co-operatives and sustainability

Corporate Knights is a watchdog of corporate behaviour. Over the years, they have found that co-operatives lead – and excel by significant margins – in the achievement of sustainable business practices. Check out their rankings!